The treatise on purgatory. Transl

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A TREATISE ON PURGATORY.

lokdok:

pbikted bt i.svxy, bobsok, akd fbàkkltn,

Oreat New Street and Fetter Lane.

THE

TEEATISE ON PURGATORI

BY

ST. CATHERINE OF GENOA.
CrattsloU) frimt % nrìgteal Jtalioit.

WITH À PREFACE BY

THE VERY REV. H. E. MANNING, D.D.

PaOYOtT OV WESTMIVSTEB.

" In ila quflB de Purgatorio determinata non sunt ab Ecclesia
standum est iis quae sunt magls conformia dictis et revelationibas
Sanctorum." — St. Thomas, in 4 sent. dist. 21, quest. 1, a. 1 ; quoted
by Bellannine, lib. ii. e. yii. de Purg.

LONDON:

BURNS AND LAMBERT, 17 PORTMAN STREET,

AND 6S PATERNOSTER ROW.

1868.

PEEFACE.

The Treatise of St. Catherine of Genoa on
Purgatory has never, it seems^ been as yet ren-
dered into Englisb. The present translation,
therefore, which is both faithful and excellent
in language, wìU be most acceptable to those
to whom this wonderful hook has hitherto been
clQsed.

Although our Lord, by His apostle, has for-
bidden to women the public ministry of teach-
ing in His Church, He has nevertheless reserved
for them a great and resplendeht office in the
edification of His mystical Body. The lights
and inspirations bestowed upon them, according
to the words of the prophet Joel, — " In the last
days, saith the Lord, I will pour out of My Spirit
upon ali flesh, and your sons and your daugh-
ters shall prophesy ; • . . and upon My servants
and upon My handmaidens I will pour out in
those days of My Spirit," — are among the prero-

VI PREFACE.

gatives bestowed upon the Church by the day
of Pentecost. And their dignity is among the
glorìes of the Mother of God, whose daughters
and handmaìds they are.

Two of the great festivals of the Catholic
Church had their origin in the illumination of
humble and unlearned women. The Feast of
Corpus Christi was the offspring of the devotion
of the Blessed Juliana of Retinne ; the Feast
of the Saered Heart of that of the Blessed Mar-
garet Mary : to St. Catherine of Sienna our
Lord vouchsafed the honour of calling back
again the Sovereign PontifT from the splendid
banìshment of Avignon to the throne of the
Apostolic See ; to St Teresa the special gift
of illumination, to teach the ways of union with
Himself in prayer ; to Blessed Angela of Fo-
ligno the eighteen degrees of compunction, and
His own five poverties ; and to St. Catherine of
Genoa an insight and perception of the state
of Purgatory, which seem like the utterances
of one immersed in its expiation of love.

Benedict XIV. tells us, in his work on the
Beatification and Canonisation of Saints, that
the Works of St. Catherine of Genoa were exa-
miued and approved by the theologians of Paris:
intendingy no doubt, the examination by the

PREFACE. VII

Sorbonne in 1666, by direction of the Arch-
bìsfaop of Paris ; and again by the Sacred Con-
gregation in the cause of her canonisation.*
The source from which she drew the sweet and
consoling illumination set forth in the foUowing
pages, on the mysterious sufierings and bliss of
purgatory, was a life of continued pain and of
ardent consuming love ; of perpetuai expiation,
and of absolute conformity to the will of God.
And of this she says : " This way of purgation
A^hich I see in the souls in purgatory, I feel in
my own mind, chiefly in the last two years;
day by day I feel and see it more clearly. I
see my soni to he standing in the body as in a
purgatory conformed and like to the true pur-
gatory. . • • AH the things I bave hitherto said
I see and touch : but I can find no fit words to
express as fully as I desire to say it ; and what
I bave said I feel to be working spiritually within
me, and therefore I bave said it."f

The Saint was born in Genoa, in 1447, of
the family of Fieschi. Her parents married
her to Giuliano Adomo, of a noble Genoese
house. After bis death she served the sick in
the Great Hospital, where her body, stili per-

* Ben. XIV. de Beat et Can. Sanct lib. ii. e. xxvi. 2.
f Trattato del Purgatorio, e. xvii.

VIU PREFACE.

fect and vìsible, is venerateci over the high aitar
in the choir of the religious whiefa is attached
to the wards, and looks down upon the ex-
temal Church ; and her memory is blessed
among the saìnts as the Seraph of Genoa.

H. E. M,

Ali SouU Day, 1858.

TEEATISE ON PURGATORY.

. The Saint shows how she understood Purgatory from the
divine fire which she felt within herself, and in what
manner the souls there are both happy and tormented.

CHAPTER I.

STATE OF THE SOULS IN PUEOATORT, HOW THET ARE FREE
FROBf ALL SELF-LOYE.

This holy soul, yet in the flesb, found herself placed
in the purgatory of God's burning love, which con-
sumed and pnrified her fìx)ni whatever she had to
pnrify, in order that after passing out of this life
she might enter at once into the immediate pre-
sence of God her Beloved. By means of this for-
nace of love she understood how the souls of the
faithful are placed in purgatory to get rid of ali the
rust and stain of sin that in this life was lefb un-
purged. As she, plunged in the divine fornace of
purifying love, was united to the object of ber love,

B

2 A TEEATISE ON PUBGATORT.

and satisfied with ali that He wrought in her, so
she understood it to be with the souls in purgatory,
and saìd :

The souls in purgatoiy, as far as I can under-
stand the matter, cannot but choose to be there ;
and this by God's ordinance, who has justly decreed
it so. They cannot reflect withìn themselves and
say, *' I ha ve done such and such sins^ for which I
deserve to be bere ;" nor can they say, " Would that
I had not done them, that now I might go to para-
dise ;" nor yet say, " That soul is going out before
me ;" nor, " I shall go out before him.*' They can
remember nothing of themselves or others, whether
good or evil, which might increase the pain they
ordinarily enduro ; they are so completely satisfied
with what God has ordained for them, that He
should be doing ali that pleases Him, and in the
way it pleases Him, that they are incapable of
thinking of themselves even in the midst of their
greatest sufferings. They behold only the good-
ness of God, whose mercy is so great in bringing
men to Himself, that they cannot see any thing
that may affect them, whether good or bad; if
they oould, they would not be in pure charity.
They do not know that their sufierings are for the
sake of their sins, nor can they keep in view the
sins themselves ;* for in doing so th«:« would be an
act of imperfection, whidi could bave no place
where there can be no longer aay poBsibility of
actually sinning.

* Set Appendix A.

A TBEATISE ON PUEGATORY. à

Once, in passing out of tliis life, they perceive
why'they bave tbeir purgatory; but never aftor-
wards, otherwise self would come in. Abiding,
then, in charity, and not being aìble to deviate
therefròm by any real defect, they bave no will,
no desire, nothing tut the will of pure love : they
are in that fire of purgatory by the appointment of
Gk>d, which is ali one with pure love ; and they can-
not in any thing tum aside from it, because, as they
can no more merit, so they can no more sin.

CHAPTER IL

THB JOT OF THE fiOULS IN PUBOATOBT — THS SAINT SHOWS HOW
THET ARE EVER SEEING (}OD MORE AND MORE — DIFFICULTT
IN SPEAKING OF THElfe CONDITION.

I DO not believe it would be possible to ùnd any
Joy comparable to that of a soul in purgatory, ex-
cept the Joy of the blessed in paradise, — a joy which
goes on increasing day by day, as God more and more
£owB in upon the soul, which He does abundantly
in proportion as every hindrance to His entranoe is
consumed away. The hindrance* is the rust of sin ;
the fire consumes the rust, and thus the soul goes
on laying itself open to the Divine inflowing.

It is as with a covered object. The object can-
not respond to the rays of the sun, not because the
sun ceases to shine, — for it shines without intermis-
sion, — but because the covering intervenes. Let the

* See Appendiz B.

4: A TREATISB ON PURQATORY.

covoring be destroyed, again the object will be ex-
posed to the smi, and will answer to the rays which
beat against it in proportion as the work of destruc-
tion advances. Thus the souls are corered by a mst
— ^that is, sin — ^which is gradually consumed away by
the fire of purgatory ; the more ib is consumed, the
more they respond to God their true Sun; their
happiness increases as the rust falls off, and lays
them open to the Divine ray; and so their happi-
ness grows greater as the impediment grows less, till
the time is accomplished. The pain, however, does
not diminish, but only the time of remaining in
that pain. As fer as their will is concemed, these
souls cannot acknowledge the pain as such, so com-
pletely are they satisfied with the ordinance of God,
so entirely is their will one with it in pure charity.
On the other band, they sufifer a torment so extreme,
that no tongue could describe it, no intellecìt could
form the least idea of it, if God had not made it
known by special grace ; which idea, however, God's
grace has shown my soul; but I cannot find words
to express it with my tongue, yet the sight of it has
never lefb my mind. I will describe it as I can :
they will understand it whose intellect the Lord
shall Youchsafe to open.

A TBEATISE OK FUBGATOBY.

CHAPTER III.

SEPARATION FROU GOD IS THE GREÀTEST PUNISHMENT OF PUR-
GATORT — WHEREIN PURGATORT DIFFERS FROM HELL.

All the pains of purgatory take their rise from sin,
originai or actual. God created the soni perfectly
pure and free from every spot of sin, with a certain
instinctive tendency to find its blessedness in Him.
From this tendency it is drawn away by originai
sin, and stili more by the addition of actual sin ; and
the farther off it gets, the more wicked it becomes,
because it is less in conformity with God.

Things are good only so far as they participate
in God. To irrational creatures God communicates
Himself, without fail, as He wills, and as He has
determined ; to the rational soul more or less, ac-
cording as He finds it purified from the impediment
of sin ; so that, when a soul is approaching to that
state of first purity and innocence which it had
when created, the instinctive desire of seeking hap-
piness in God develops itself, and goes on increas-
ing through the fire of love, which draws it to its
end with such impetuosity and vehemence, that any
obstacle seems intolerable, and the more clear its
vision, the more extreme its pain.

Now because the souls in purgatory are without
the guilt of sin, there is nothing to stand between
God and them except the punishment which keeps
them back, and prevents this instinct from attaining
its perfection ; and from their keenly perceiying of

6 A TREATI8E ON PURGATORY.

what moment ìt is to be Idndered even in the least
degree, and yet that justìce most strictly demanda
a hindrance, there springs up within them a fire
lìke that of helL They have not the goilt of sin ;
and ìt is this latterwhich constitutes the malignant
willof the damned, who are excluded from sharing
in the goodness of God, and therefore remain in that
hopeless malignity of will by which they oppose the
will of God.

CHAPTER IV.

STATE OF THE SOULS THAT ARE IN HELL, AND THE DIFFERENCE
THERE IS BETWEEN THEM AND THOSE IN PURGATÒRT — RE-
FLECTI0N8 OF THE SAINT UPON THOSE WHO NEGLECT THEIR
SALVATION.

From ;v7hat has been said, it is clear that the guilt of
sin consists in the perverse opposition of the will
to the will of God, and that so long as the will con-
tinues thus evilly perverse the guilt wiD continue.
For those, then, in hell, who have departed this life
with an evil will, there is no remission of sin, nei-
ther can be, because there can be no more change
of will. In passing out of this life the soul is fixed
for good or evil, according to its deliberate purpose
at the time ; as it is written, " Where I ahall find
thee (that is, at the hour of death, with a will either
to sin or sony for sin and penitent), there wiU I
jvdge 'thee ;" and this judgment is final ; because
after death the will can never again be free, but
must remain fixed in the condition in which it was

A TBEATISE ON PUBGATOBY. 7

found at the moment of death. The souls in hell
having been found at the moment of death wìth a
will to sin, have with them an infinite degree of
guilt ; and the punìshment they snfier, thongh less
than they deserve, is yet, so far as it exists, endless.
But the souls in purgatory have only the punish-
ment for sin, and not its guilt ; for the guilt was
effaced at the moment of death, in that they were
found then deploring their sins and penitent for
having offended the Divine Goodness : so their
punishment has a limit, and goes on diminishing in
duration as has been said.

O misery above every misery ! and so much the
greater because men in their blindness consider it
so little.

The punishment of the damned is not, indeed,
infinite in amount ; for the sweet goodness of God
sheds the rays of His mercy even in hell. A man
who has died in mortai sin deserves a punishment
infinite in pain and infinite in duration ; but God
in His mercy has made it infinite only in durafion,
and has limit ed the amount of pain. He might
most justly have given them a fer greater punish-
ment than He has.

O how perilous is a sin committed through ma-
lico ! for hardly does a man repent of it ; and not
repenting, his guilt remains, and will remain, so long
as there is any afiection for the sin committed, or
any purpose of committing it afiresh.

ò A TREATISE ON PURGATOKY.

CHAPTER V.

THE PEACE AND JOT OF PUBGATORT.

The souls in purgatory having their wills perfectly
confonned to the will of God, and hence partaking
of His goodness, remain satisfied with their con-
dition, which is one of entire freedom from the
guilt of sin. For when they passed out of this life,
penitent, with ali their sins confessed and resolved
to sin no more, God straightway pardoned them ;
and now they are as pure as when they were cre-
ated ; the rust of sin alone is left, and this they get
rid of by the pnnishment of fire. Cleansed thns
from ali sin, and nnited in will to God, they see
God clearly according to the degree of light He
imparts to them; they are conscious too what a
thing it is for them to enjoy God, that for this very
end souls were created. Again, there is in them
a conformity of will so uniting them to God, so
draying them to Him through that naturai instinct
whereby God is, as it were, bound up with the soul,
that no description, no figure, no example can givo
a clear idea of it as it is actually felt and appre-
hended by inward consciousness ; nevertheless I will
mention something like it which suggests itself to

A TREATISE ON PUBGATORY.

CHAPTER VI.

COHPARISON TO EXPLAIN THE IMPETDOSITT AND LOVE BY WHICH
THE SOULS IN PUROATORT DESIRE TO ENJOT OOD.

Let US suppose that there existed in the world but
one loaf of bread to satisfy the hunger of every
creature, and that the mere sight of it could do this.
In such a case a man, haviug naturally, if in good
health, a desire for food, would find himself, so long as
he was kept from dying or falling sick, getting more
and more hungry ; for his craving would continue
undiminished, — he would know that the bread, and
nothing but the bread, could satisfy him, and not
being able to reach it, would remain in intolerable
pain j the nearer he got to the bread without see-
ing it, the more ardently would he crave for it, and
would direct himself wholly towards it, as being
the only thing which could afford him relief ; and
if he were assured that he never could see the bread
he would ha ve within him a perfect hell, and be-
come like the damned, who are cut off from ali
hope of ever seeing God their Saviour, who is the
true Bread.

The souls in purgatory, on the other band, hope
to see that Bread, and satiate themselves to the full
therewith ; whence they hunger and suffér pain as
great as will be their capacity of enjoying that
Bread, which is Jesus Christ the true God, our
Saviour and our Love.

10 A TBEATISE ON PURGATORY.

CHAPTER VII.

THE WONDEKFUL WISDOM OF GOD IN THE INYENTION OF
PUB6AT0BT AND HELL.

As the soni cleansed and purified finds no place
wherein to rest but God, this being ita end by
creatìon^ so the soul in a state of sin fìnds no
place for it but hell, this being its end by the ap-
pointment of God. 'No sooner, then, does the soul
leave the body in mortai sin than it goes straight
to hell as to its allotted place^ with no other guide
than the nature of sin ; and should a soul not fìnd
itself thus prevented by the justice of God, but ex-
cluded altogether from His appointment, it would
endure a stili greater hell — for God's appointment
partakes of His mercy, and is less severe than the sin
deserves ; — as it isthe soul, finding no place suited to
it, nor any lesser pain provided for it by God, casts
itself into Hell as into its proper place. Thus, with
regard to purgatory, when the soul leaves the body,
and finds itself out of that state of purity in which
it was created, seeing the hindrance, and that it
can only be removed by purgatory, "without a mo-
ment's hesitation it plunges therein ; and were there
no such means provided to remove the impediment,
it would forthwith beget within itself a hell worse
than purgatory, because by reason of this impedi-
ment it would see itself unable to reach God, its
last end : and this hindrance would be so full of
pain, that, in comparison with it, purgatory, though,
as I bave saìd, it be like hell, would not be worth a
thought, but be even as nothing.

A TREATISE OK PUROATORY; 1 1

CHAPTER Vili.

THE NECESSITT OF PURQATOKr, AND HOW TERRIBLB IT IS.

Again I say that, on God's part, I see paradise
has no gate, bui that whosoever will may enter
therein ; for Grod is ali mercy, and stands with open
arms to admit us to His gloiy. But stili I see that
the Being of God is so pure (far more than one can
imagine), that should a soni see in itself even the
least mote of imperfection, it would rather cast it-
self into a thousand hells than go with that spot
into the presence of the Divine Majesty. Therefore,
seeing purgatory ordained to take away such blem-
ishes, it plunges therein, and deems it a great mercy
that it can thus remove them.

No tongue can express, no mind can understand,
how dreadful is pnrgatory. Tts pain is like that of
hell ; and yet (as I have said) I see any soni with the
least stain of imperfection accept it as a mercy, not
thinking it of any moment when compared with
being kept from its Love. It appears to me that
the greatest pain the souls in purgatory enduro
proceeds from their being sensible of something in
themselves displeasing to God, and that it has beell
done voluntarily against so much goodness; for,
being in a state of grace, they know the truth, and
how grievous is any obstacle which does not let
them approach God.

12 A TKEATISE ON PURGATORY.

CHAPTER IX.

THE WAT IN WHICH OOD AND THE SOULS REOARD ONE ANOTHER
IN PURGATORY — THE SAINT CONFESSES HER INABILITT TO
EXPRESS HERSELF ON THIS MATTÈR.

All the things of which I ha ve spoken, when com-
pared with that of which I am assured in my in-
telligence, so far as I am able to compreheod it in
this life, are of such intensity, that, by the side of
them, all things seen, all things felt, all things ima-
gined, all things just and trae, seem to me lies and
things of naught. I am confounded at my inability
to find stronger words. I see that God is in such
perfect conformity with the soul, that when He be-
holds it in the purity wherein it was created by His
Divine Majesty He imparts a certaiù attractive im-
pulse of His buming love, enough to annihilate it;
though it be immortai ; and in this way so trans-
forms the soul into Himself, its God, that it sees in
itself nothing but God, who goes on thus attracting
and inflaming it, until He has brought it to that
state of existence whence it came forth — that is, the
spotless purity wherein it was created. And when
the soul, by interior illumination, perceives that
God is drawing it with such loving ardour to Him-
self, straightway there springs up within it a cor-
responding fire of love for its most sweet Lord and
God, which causes it whoUy to melt away : it sees
in the Divine light how considerately, and with
what un&iling providence, God is ever leading it to

A TBEATISE ON PUBGATOBT. 13

its fall perfection, and that He does it ali through
pure love ; it finds itself stopped by sin, and nnable
to follo w the heavenly attraction, — I mean that
look which God casts on it to bring it into union
with Himself : and this senso of the grievousness of
being kept from beholding the Divine light, coupled
with that instinctive longing which would fain be
without hindrance to follow the enticing look, —
these two things, I say, make up the pains of the
souls in purgatory. Not that they think any thing
of their pains, however great they be ; they think
far more of the opposition they are making to the
will of God, which they see clearly is buming in-
tensely with pure love to them. God meanwhile
goes on drawing the soul to Himself by His looks
of love mightily, and, as it were, with undivided
energy : this the soul knows well ; and could it 'fìnd
another purgatory greater than this by which it
Could sooner remove so great an obstacle, it would
immediately plunge therein, impelled by that con-
forming love which is between God and the souL

CHAPTER X.

HOW OOD UAKES USE OF PURGATORT TO RENDER THE SOUL PER-
FECTLY PURE — THE SOUL THERB ATTAINS SUCH PURITT,THAT
WERE IT TO STAY AFTER BEINO CLEANSfiD IT WOULD NO
LONGER SUFFER.

Again, I see that the love of God directs towards
the soul certain buming rays and shafts of light,
which seem penetrating and powerful enough to an-

14 A TEEATISB ON PURGATOBY.

nihilate not merely the body, but, were it possible,
the very soul itself. These work intwo ways ; they
pnrìfy, and they .annihilate.

Look at gold : the more ìt ìs melted, the better
it becomes ; and it could be melted so as to destroy
every single defect. Such is the action of fire on
material things. Now the soul cannot be anni-
hilated so far as it is in God, but only in itself;
and the more it is purifìed, so much the more it
annihilates self, till at last it becomes quite pure
and rests in God. Gold which has been purified to
a certain point ceases to sufiTer any diminution from
the action of fire, however great it be ; for fire does
not destroy gold, but only the dross that it may
chance to bave. In like manner the divine fire acts
on souls : God holds them in the fumace until every
defect has been bumt away, and He has brought
them, each in its own degree, to a certain standard
of perfection. Thus purified, they rest in God with-
out any alloy of self; their very being is God; they
become impassible because there is nothing lefb to
be consumed. And if in this state of purity they
were kept in the fire, they would feel no pain ; ra-
ther it would be to them a fire of Divine Love,
bùming on without opposition, like the fire of life
eternai.

A TREATISE ON PUBOATORY. 15

CH AFTER XI.

THB DBSIRE OF THB SODLS IN PUBOATORT TO BB QUITB FBEB
FBOM THE STAINS OF THEIB SINS — THB WISDOM OF GOD IN
SUDDENLT HIDIN6 FROM THOSE SOULS THE DEFECTS THET
HATE.

The soul in its creation waa invested with ali the
conditions of which it was capable for reaching per-
fection, supposing it to live according to the ap-
pointment of God and keep altogether from the
defilements of sin. But, marred by originai sin, it
loses ali its gifls and graces, becomes dead; and
God alone can raìse it to life again. And when He
has done so by baptism, stili the propensity to evil
remains, which^ if unresisted, incHnes and leads to
actual sin, whereby the soul again dies. Again
God restores it to life ; but after this it is so tainted,
so tumed to self^ that to recali it to its first state
needs ali that Divine agency that I bave been
speaking about, without which it never could be
recalled. And when the soul finds itself on its way
back to that first state, it is so enkindled with the
desire of becoming one with God, that this desire
becomes its purgatory ; not that the soul can look
at purgatory as such, but the instinct by which it is
kindled, and the impediment by which it is hisr
dered, constitute its purgatory.

God performs this last act of love without the
co-operation of man ; for there are so many secret
imperfections within the soul, that the sight of them
WGold drive it to despair; These are, however, ali

16 A TREATISE ON PUBGATOBY. \

destroyed during the process I have described ; and
when they are consumed, God shows them to the
soul, that it may understand that it was He who *^

kindled that fire of love which consumes every im-
perfection there is to be consumed.

CHAPTER XII.

THE UNION OF SUFFEBINO AND JOT IN PURGATORT.

Know that what man deems perfectìon ìs in the
sight of God a defect. Ali the thìngs which have
the appearance of perfection, so far as they come
before the sight, the feeling, the understanding, the
memory, or the will, are tainted and spoilt if not
recognised as from God. For a work to be perfect,
it must be wrought in us, without our co-operation
as principal agents ; it must be God's work, done in
God, and man must not in any way take the lead.
Such precisely is that operation of His pure and
simple love which God finally works in us, without
any merit of our own ; wherein He so penetrates
and bums the soul, that the surrounding body is
consumed away, and can no more hold up, than
one could remain alive and rest patiently amid the
flames of a buming fìery fumace. It is true that
the overflowing love of God bestows upon the
souls in purgatory a happiness beyond expression
great : but then this happiness does not in the least
diminish the pain — rather the pain is constituted

"X

A TBEATISE OK FUBOATOBT. 17

by this love finding itself impeded ; the more per-
fect the love of whìch God makes the soni capable,
the greater the paìn.

In this manner the souls in purgatory at the
same time experience the greatest happiness and
the most excessive pain ; and one does not prevent
the other.

CHAPTER XIII.

HOW THE SOULS IN PURGATORY ARB NO LONOER IN A STATE TO
HERIT, AND HOW THET REGARD THE CHARITT EXERCISED IN
THE WORLD POR THEM.

If the sonls in purgatory could purge themselves
of their stains by contrition, they "wonld in a single
instant discharge ali their debt, so ardent and so
impetnons an act wonld they make, seeing in so
clear a light the e£fects of the impediment which
hinders them from attaining to their end, which is
Grod, the objecst of their love. And be assured that
the souls bave to pay what they owe even to the
uttermost farthing : this is God's decree, to satiafy
the demands of justice. As to the souls themselves,
they bave no choice of their own in the matter ;
they see nothing but God's will ; nor do they wish
things otherwise, because they bave been so de-
termined.

They would not care for alms contributed by
the living^ to shorten their period of pain, were not
those predsely balanced by the will of God ; they
e

18 A fPREATlSfi OK PUttGATOBlT*

leave ali in His hands, who exacts satu&ction as
it pleases Hi» infinite goodness. And could they
regard those alms apart from the Divine Will^ it
would be an act of selfishness which wonld prevent
their seeing the Divine Will, and would be to them
a veiy helL They remain immoveably fixed on
"whatever God wills for them, and neither pleasure
nor pain can ever again cause them to tum to self.

CHAPTER XIV.

ON THE fetrBMXSSiON lO THE WILL OF GOD THAT THE SOULS IN
PUBGATORT HATE.

These sonls are so closelj nnìted, so transformed
into the will of God, that in ali things they are
satisfied with His most holy decree; and were a
soni presented before Gk>d with ever so little to
purge away, it would suffer grievous hurt and a
torment worse than ten purgatories. That unspot-
ted sanctity, that perfect justice, could not endure
it ; to do so vrould be unbecomìng on the part of
God. Should, then, the soul perceive that it lacked
even a moment of satisfying God most completely,
it would be to it a thing intolerable ; and rather
than stand thus ìmperfectly cleansed in the pre-
sence of God, it would plunge at once into a thou-
sand hells.

A UlEATISB ON PURGATOBY. 19

CHAPTER XV.

HOW THE SOULS IN PUROATORY BEBUKE THE MEN OF THIS
WO&LD.

" WouLD that I could cry out" (said this blessed
soul, when under Divine illumination she saw these
things) " loud enough to strike with fear every man
Tipon tlie earth, and say, Miserable beings, whj Buf-
fer ye yourselves to be so blinded by this world as
to make no provision for the dire strait ye will
find yourselves in at the hour of death 1 Ye ali
shelter yourselves under the hope of God's mercy,
which ye say is so great ; and ye consider not that
this very goodness of God will rise up in judgment
against you for having opposed the will of so good
a Master : His mercy ought to constrain you to do
ali His will, and not encourage you to do evil. Be
assured that His justice cannot yield, but must in
one way or other be fully satisfied. Let no one
buoy himself up by saying, ' I shall confess / and
then I shall receive a plenary indulgence^ whereby
I shall be cleansed from ali my sins and get through
safely.' Know that a plenary indulgence requires
confession and contrition ; and this latter is so dif-
fìcult to obtain, that if ye knew how difficult, ye
would tremble with fear, and rather make sure of
not gaining than of gaining the indulgence."

20 A TREATISE ON PUBGATORY.

CHAPTER XVI.

THE SAINT SHOWS THAT THE SUFFERINGS OP THE SOULS IN PUR-
GATORT DO NOT DESTROT THEIR PEACE OR THEIR JOT.

I SEE that the souls in purgatory in the midst of
their pains are sensible of doing two things :

First, that they are suffering willingly; for
when they perceive their own deserta and God's
majesty, they think that He is treating them with
great leniency in afflicting them as He does ; for
had not goodness tempered justice with mercy
through the satisfactions of the precious Blood of
Jesus Christ, a thousand hells would have been the
portion of a single sin through ali etemity. Hence
they suffer ali their pains gladly, and would not rid
them of a single pang, knowing that ali is justly
deserved and righteously ordained ; they no more
complain of God, so far as their will is concemed,
than if they were in life eternai.

Secondly, they are conscious of feeling positive
satisfaction in beholding the love and mercy with
which God orders His work within them. They
are made sensible of these two facts at one and the
same moment, and being in a state of grace, under-
stand them as they are, each soul according to
its capacity ; and they experience great happiness,
which never grows less, but, on the contrary, goes
on increaaing the nearer they approach God. They
do not know these things directly in themselves,
but in God, on whom their attention is more fixed

A TREATISE ON PURGATORY. 21

— ^far more — ^than on the pains they suffer, and of
whom in comparison they make far more account.
For one glimpse of God exceeds every pain and
every Joy a man can conceive, and though it ex-
ceeds, does not take away one particle of the Joy
or of the pain.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE SAINT, IN CONCLUSION, APPLIES ALL THAT HAS BEBN SAID OF
THE SOULS IN PURGATORY TO WHAT SHE FEELS AND EXPE-
RIENCES IN HER OWN MIND.

That which I have thus described as going on
within the souls who are actually in purgatory, I
have experienced in my own soul, especially during
the last two years ; and each day I see and feel it
more clearly. I perceive my soni in the midst of
my body as in a purgatory, conformed and like to
the true purgatory, in measure, however, that the
body may be able to endure it and not die; yet
the pain goes on increasing gradually until death.
I see the soul estranged to ali things, even spiritual,
which can givo it nourishment — as joy, delight, con-
solation ; and it has no power of tasting any thing
temporal or spiritual by will, by understanding, by
memory, so that I can say, " this thing pleases me
more than that other." My soul is as it were be-
sieged in such a manner that ali spiritual or bodily
refreshments are gradually cut off; and when they
have been cut off, the soul, although it knows well
how it could have been fed and comforted by them,

22 A TREATISE ON PtTRGATORY.

looks on them wìth feelìngs of hatred axid abbor-*
rence, and rejects them ali without repairing ita
loss. This happens because tbere exists within
tbe soul an impulse to get rìd of everj hindrance
to its perfection, and that too witb such severity
to itself, that it would almost suffer ìtself to be
cast into beli to reach this end : and so it goes
on, removing every thing which might feed the
inward man, and besieges itself so straitly, that
not even the least particle of imperfection can pass
without being spied out, and rejected with abhor-
rence. My body, too, since it can no longer com-
mnnicate with the soni, is in like manner besieged,
and unable to obtain any thing to refresh its hu-
man nature; there is no comfort for it but God,
who does ali He does to satisfy His justice lovingly
and with great mercy. When I see this, I feel
satisfactìon and peace ; but my sufferings are not
the less, nor am I the less straitly besieged. ^o
sufferings, however, could make me wish it other-
wise than God has determined for me ; I remain in
my prison without a wish to come out till God has
done ali that I need. My happiness is that God
should be satisfied; and the greatest pain I could
endure would be being excluded from His ordi-
nance, for I see how just and merciful it is.

I am sensible of ali these things I bave described
as it were by sight and touch, but I cannot find
fitting words to express myself as I could wish. I
bare said what I bare, because I was conscious of
its going on spxritually witbin me. The prison in

A TKEATISE OH PURGATORT. 23

which I fancy myself shnt up is the world; the
chaìn hj which I am held is the body ; the soni
enlighteiied is she who, knowing well the grìevous*
ness of being detained and kept back by any hin*
dranoe from reaching ber end, suffers thereby great
pain, inasmuch as she is very tender. God, by His
grace, bestows upon her a dignity which makes ber
like God, and not only like God, but even one with
Him through participating in His goodness; and
as it is impossible that God should snffer pain, so
it is with the souls that approach Him; and the
nearer they approach Him, the more they share
in that which belongs to Him. The hindrance,
then, that the soni meets with, canses it to feel an
intolerable pain; and the pain, together with the
hindrance, obstruct those properties which it has
by nature, and which by grace are revealed to it ;
and not being able to attain them, although capable
of them, the soul remains in suffering great in pro-
portion to its appreciation of God. This appre-
ciation of God grows with its knowledge of God ;
and its knowledge is greater the more it is free
from sin; and the delay becomes more and more
terrible, because the soul, whoUy immersed in God,
knows Him without error, there being nothing in
the way to prevent such knowledge. The man
who would die sooner than offend God, feels death
and the pain of dying ; but the sight of God sup-
plies him with a zeal which makes him think more
of the divine honour than bodily death. In like
manner, a soul knowing what God has appointed

24 A TREATISE ON PURGATORY.

for it thinks more of the appointment tlian any
OTitward or inward pain, no matter how dreadfdl;
and thìs because God, the author of it, surpasses
every thing that can be thought of or imagined.
The participation of Himself that God grants the
soni, however slight it be, keeps it so whoUy
taken up with His majesty that it can think of
nothing else : every thing to do with self passes
away, — it neither sees, speaks, nor knows loss or
pain of its own ; but ali this, as has been already
clearly said, it perceives at the instant of passing
from this life. Finally, in conclusion, I mean that
God, who is good and great, destroys ali which is
of man, and purgatory purifies it.

APPENDICES.

Appbkdix a.

The Saint must bere be understood to mean tbat the souls
in purgatory cannot recoUect the specijic reasons of the poins
they STifTer ; tbat they cannot say, " I bave done sucb and
8ucb 8ins, for wbicb I deserve to be bere." Sbe cannot mean
absolutely tbat they do not know tbat the palns they Buffeir
are in ponìshment for tbeir sins. For besides sucb ignorance
beìng scarcely conceivable, it is contrary to ber own express
statement in cbap. vii., wbere sbe says, " tbat tbat wbicb
caases the souls in purgatory most pain is the seeing in
ìbemselves a tbing displeasing to God ; and the being con-
scious tbat it bas been admitted against so mucb goodness."

Appbitdix B.

Theke is a difference of opinion among theologians as tothiB
■nature of tbat purification wbicb the souls undergo in pur-
gatory. From what are they puiified ? from the guilt of sin,
or simply from imperfections ? If from imperfections, in
wbat sense do tbey become perfect ? In tbat they are in-
■trinsically improved ; or is it merely tbat tbey bave bettered
•tìieir condition before God ?

Bellarmino goes so far as to maintain tbat tbe culpa or
gmlt of Tenia! sin is remitted in purgatory. To Calvirfs
objection to Matt xii. 82 being quoted in favour of pur-
tgatory, because there our Lord is speàking of sin beipg
remitted in tbe world to come quoad cvUpam, wbereas pur-
-gatory xmìy remits sin quoad pcsuam^ be replies, ** tbat at
least veriial sin is remitted m purgatory quocui culpanf*
tpe Ptirg. lib. i. e. iv. 6). He says tbat tbe true opinion :Ì8
St Thomas's, tbat the guilt of venia! sin, culpas veniales, is
twnittedin pm^atory by an act of love and patient£i>duranqe
(Pe Purg. lib. i. e. xiv. 22).

Sttarez, on tbe other band, idoes not seem to admSt tbat
pTirgatory botters the soni in any otber sense than enalding
ìt to dis^harge tbe deb* of punishment due to sin {Suarez,
Disp. xi. sec. iv. a 2^ § 10). Ali tbe guilt of sin, be sa^, is
t«nmted at the first moment of tbe soul's separotion from the
■Myi^— in^prùno MMUutH MparatUmia wimtB n cùr^poret^^-^ By
P

26 APPENDICES.

a single act ofcontrition, whereby the willis wholly converted
to God and turned away from every venial sin" (§13). And in
this way, he says, sin may be remitted — quocìd culpam — ^in
purgatory, because the soul's purification dates from this mo-
ment (§ 10). As to bad habits and vicious inclinations, he
says, '* we ought not to imagine that the soul is detained for
these : for so far as they arise from the sensitive appetite,
they are laid aside with the body ; so far as they are in the
will, they are either taken away at the moment of death, or
expelled by an infusion of the contrary virtues when the soul
enters into glory" (Disp. xlvii. sec. i. 6).

Now which view, it may be asked, does St Catherine
countenance in the present treatise, — ^that of Bellarmine or
that of Suarez ? She is plainly unfavourable to Bellarmine's
view of the culpa, or gmlt of venial sin, being remitted in
purgatory : for she says (chap. iii.) "that the souls in pur-
gatory are free from the guilt of sin, and nothing is between
Grod and them except the punishment ;" and in chap. iv., that
the souls in purgatory have only the punishment, the guilt
— la colpa — having been cancelled at the moment of death ;
and so far she supports Suarez. Yet there are not wauting
many passages which make it very doubtful whether she is
àltogether on bis side.

What does the Saint understand by the Tnacchia, or stain,
which she says is upon the soul after sin, and to get rid of
which it must needs go through purgatory ? According to
St. Thomas, the efifect of sin is threefold : 1. It weakens the
soul's naturai propensity to good — corrumpit bonum natura;
2. It leaves a staxa— causai macvlam — on the soul; 3. It
incurs a debt of punishment— /6k;it hominem reum pana.
The stain, or macula, is àltogether a privative idea. As the
result of mortai sin, '* it is that shadow which is upon the
soul when the Ught of grace can no longer shine there, which
shade in some way or other takes its shape* from the actual
sin which has caused it, — Estprivatio nitoris gratia seu quod
idem est ipsiv^m^t gratia connotans peccatum actuale pra-
cedens a qtw causatur** (Billuart, voi. iv. d. vii a. 11). As
the result of venial sin, it is the diminution of the fervour of
charity : Est privatio fervoris charitatis ex peccatis attuali-
bus venialibus (Ibid.).

Speaking analogously of the souls in purgatory, does the
Saint mean by the macchia, or stain, that shade or gloom
which is over the soul in consequence of being deprived of
the light of glory ?

The comparison in chapter ìi at first sight seems fa-

* ** Sicat ambra quse est varia prò diversitate corporom." (St Tho-
mas, Bum. Th. I. 2, q. 86.)

APPENDICES. 27

vourable to such a notion ; but then it ìs to be obàerved in
that comparison, that the Saint has evidently before ber mind
the ruggine del peccato as the cause, not the efifect, of God's
not shining iato the soul.

Perhaps, then, there is no reference in this macchia to
St. Thomas's macula, It maj simply mean the state of the
soul which has not paid the debt of puuishment when it
ought For that it includes in it the idea of an imper-
fection in the soul, and not simple punishment, seems evi-
dently implied by its being opposed (chap. viii) not merely
to God's justice, but to His purity. But does it not also-
include the corruptio naturalia boni, — that weakness in the
direction of virtue, those bad dìspositions, those unheavenly
tastes, which the soul contracts through sin, and which re-
main after the guilt of sin is remitted? Certainly such
could be got rid of, as Suarez suggests, in a moment; but
there seems a moral fitness that it should not be so, — that
as they bave been gained by slow degrees, and a repetition
pf acts, they should be got rid of by a like process, — ^that in
getting back to "virtue, we should bave to retrace the steps
we bave taken in departing therefrom. We know that such
is God's way of dealing with souls in this life, why should
we think it is different in purgatory ?

There are several passages in the treatise which make
one think that this must bave been St Catherine's view.
In chapter xi. she almost, if not quite, says so. She says that
w;hen the soul has been restored to grace, it often remains
80 stained and turned to self {imbrattata e conversa verso se
stessa), that to recali it to its first state, as God created it,
needs ali those operations of the Divine power which she
has been descrìbing, without which it could never be recalled.
Now what can she mean bere but selfish habits ? She con-
cludes the treatise by saying, that *^ God, who is great and
good, destroys ali that is of man, and purgatory puiifies it"
Now what can be meant by ali that is o/man except earthly
inclinations ?

It is very easy to reconcile what the Saint says elsewhere,
which looks the other way. For instance, in chapter iii,,
where she says, that there is nothing between God and the
souls except the punishment, it may be conceived that the
Saint includes this very getting rid of the bad inclinations
as a part of the punishment : observe, in connection with the
preceding context, what she says in chapter xi about the,
istinto acceso ed impedito constituting the soul's -gvacg&torj.
Again, it may be thought that in chapter i. the idea of
ìmperfection is excluded from the souls in purgatoiy ; but
the Saint there only speaks «of the impossibility of acts of

36 AFPEMDIOES.

ìmperfidctton «xistixig in paig&tory: Buch inclinations a&d
habits as are bere supposed are altogether passive. And
that she does not ex«lude ali idea of imperfection le evi*
dent both, as was said before, froln ber making the ìm-
pediment something opposed to God's purity, and from ber
own express statement in chapter xi./where she says " that
there are so many secret ìmperfeotions in the soni, that were
it to aee them it woold be driven to despair ; that God in
th«t final condition of the soni consumes them, and when
eonsomed, shows them to the soul, that it may know that it
is He who has cansed the fire of love, which consumes
whatever of imperfection there is to consume."

Bellarmine, an authority on such a sul^ect by no means
inferìor to Suarez, doubts, ** An sicut in hàc vita immodera-
tns amor erga temporalia purgatiir a Deo variis afflictionibas,
nt mortibus uxorìs, liberorum, <&c., ita etlam credibile sit, post
' hanc vitam adhuo remanere in anima separata aliquas reli*
quias talimn a^fectionum actoalium qu» purgari debeant trì-
bnlationibas et molestiis" (De Pur. lib. i. e. xv. 25).

On the whole^ there does not i^pear any Uiing contrary
to sound theology in the idea of such an intrìnsic improve-
ment taking piace in the soul in purgatory as is implied
in the graduai gettiug rid of passive bad habits and earthlv
tastes. Sttch a uotion is very much in accordanoe witn
what we loiow of God's dealings with the soul bere on
earth, and seems oountenaaced by the present treatise.

MVBOXI

OffMt Vtm fitw^ uA batter Uba.